Income Tax Authorities and Tax Rate

Income Tax Authorities: The National Board of Revenue (NBR) is the central authority for tax administration in Bangladesh. It was established by President’s Order No. 76 of 1972. Administratively, it is under the Internal Resources Division (IRD) of the Ministry of Finance (MoF). MoF has 4 Divisions, headed by 4 permanent Secretaries to the Government, namely, the Finance Division the Internal Resources Division (IRD), the Banking Division and the Economic Relations Division (ERD). The Secretary, IRD is the ex-officio Chairman of NBR.

NBR is responsible for formulation and continuous re-appraisal of tax-policies and tax-laws, negotiating tax treaties with foreign governments and participating in inter-ministerial deliberations on economic issues having a bearing on fiscal policies and tax administration.

The main responsibility of NBR is to collect domestic revenue (primarily, Import Duties and Taxes, VAT and Income Tax ) for the government. Other responsibilities include administration of all matters related to taxes, duties and other tax producing fees. Under the overall control of IRD, NBR administers the Excise, VAT, Customs and Income-Tax services consisting of 3434 officers of various grades and 10195 supporting staff positions (Approved set up as on 09 Feb., 2000 AD).

• Chief Commissioner of Taxes;

• Directors-General of Inspection (Taxes);

• Commissioner of Taxes (Appeals);

• Commissioner of Taxes (Large Taxpayer Unit);

• Director General (Training);

• Director General, Central Intelligence Cell;

• Commissioners of Taxes;

• Additional Commissioners of Taxes (Appeal/Inspecting);

• Joint Commissioners of Taxes (Appeal/Inspecting );

• Deputy Commissioners of Taxes;

• Tax recovery officers;

• Assistant Commissioners of Taxes;

• Extra Assistant Commissioners of Taxes; and

• Inspectors of Taxes.

Tax Rate (Assessment Year 2019-2020) :

(a) Other than Company: For individuals other than female taxpayers, senior taxpayers of 65 years and above, retarded taxpayers and gazetted war-wounded freedom fighter, income tax is payable for the

  • On first upto Tk. 2,50,000/- Nil

  • On next upto Tk. 4,00,000/- 10%

  • On next upto Tk. 5,00,000/- 15%

  • On next upto Tk. 6,00,000/- 20%

  • On next upto Tk. 30,00,000/- 25%

  • On balance amount 30%

For female taxpayers, senior taxpayers of age 65 years and above, income tax is payable for the

  • On first upto Tk. 3,00,000/- Nil

  • On next upto Tk. 4,00,000/- 10%

  • On next upto Tk. 5,00,000/- 15%

  • On next upto Tk. 6,00,000/- 20%

  • On next upto Tk. 30,00,000/- 25%

  • On balance amount 30%

• For retarded taxpayers, tax free income threshold limit is TK.3,75,000/-.

• For gazetted war-wounded freedom fighters, tax free income threshold limit is Tk. 4,25,000/- .

• Minimum tax for any individual assessee living in Dhaka and Chittagong City Corporation area is Tk. 5,000/-.

• Minimum tax for any individual assessee living in other City Corporations area is Tk. 4,000/-.

• Minimum tax for any individual assessee living in any other areas is Tk. 3,000/-.

• Non-resident Individual 30% (other than non-resident Bangladeshi)

(b) For Companies

  • Publicly Traded Company 25%

  • Non-publicly Traded Company 35%

  • Bank, Insurance & Financial institutions (Except Merchant bank):

Publicly listed and 4th generation Banks & FI 40%

• Other Banks & FI 42.5% and Merchant bank 37.5%

If any non-publicly traded company transfers minimum of 20% shares of its paid-up capital through IPO (Initial Public Offering) it would get 10% rebate on total tax in the year of transfer.

Written on March 6, 2020